


Ghost Nannies

by fragilecapricornpanic



Series: PRE-WRITTEN, Pre-Canon Sibling Encounters [78]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Humor, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves Friendship, Ben Hargreeves Deserves Better, Canon Compliant, Emetophobia, Feels, Gen, Ghost Ben Hargreeves, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Implied/Referenced Dubious Consent, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, Klaus Hargreeves Whump, One Shot, One Shot Collection, POV Alternating, Pre-Canon, Protective Ben Hargreeves, Soft Vanya Hargreeves, Vanya Hargreeves Deserves Better, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:40:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26833078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fragilecapricornpanic/pseuds/fragilecapricornpanic
Summary: “Is it a ghost?” Vanya whispered anxiously. Her brother nodded. “I think she was our goddamnnanny.” Klaus snivelled. Vanya knitted her brow, wondering why she’d have the ghost of a nanny in her home. “Why would she...” she murmured softly. “I don’t know.” Klaus sighed “There were ghost nannies in the academy but I just used to run away.” he flatly chuckled. Vanya wanted to ask why he’d ran away when he could’ve just banished them, but now wasn’t the appropriate time.(Pre book)
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves
Series: PRE-WRITTEN, Pre-Canon Sibling Encounters [78]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1869709
Comments: 2
Kudos: 71





	Ghost Nannies

**Author's Note:**

> **Big TW for emetophobia**

Ben grimaced as his brother casually leaned over the garbage can he just vomited in, as though that wasn’t utterly revolting. After literal years of witnessing Klaus be disgusting, Ben still found himself grossed out by him. It made him almost gag, despite having no stomach to vomit. “Come on, I won’t do anything to freak her out!” Klaus whined, so loudly a nearby flock of pigeons hastily flew away. Ben shook his head firmly, he wasn’t giving his brother directions to Vanya’s place. If he wanted to know so badly then maybe he should goddamn remember something for once. “Even showing up like this will scare the shit out of her!” Ben gestured towards his brother’s glaring dope sickness. Klaus shoved his face down onto the ledge of the trash can with frustration. Ben had to look away, he felt he’d spontaneously redevelop the ability to puke. 

“ _Please_ , Benny.” Klaus pleaded pathetically, heaving his head back up. Ben sighed, feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place. He knew his brother would put himself at risk when he got to a certain point of desperation. It would be ideal to avoid that route. It always made Ben anxious when Klaus would resort to forcing himself into selling or trading sex for drugs. He knew it made his brother miserable, plus Ben couldn’t do a thing to help if things went awry. He wished Klaus would stop putting himself in these difficult and dangerous predicaments.

Diego wasn’t currently speaking to their brother after he’d fucked him over one too many times, and Klaus was in too much of a state to attempt robbing a place. He was too worried he’d get caught. Ben wouldn’t be so against that idea, since Klaus needed a wake up call - but he knew he couldn’t talk his brother into it. He was too itching for drugs to risk getting arrested again. That was how he even found himself in this position to begin with, having his stash seized and being made to wait several long hours in a holding cell.

“You wouldn’t get sick if you stopped using.” Ben passive aggressively pointed out, even though he knew his brother would do almost anything to avoid actually getting sober. “Really? I had no idea.” Klaus sarcastically snapped, having difficulty lighting his cigarette with his profusely shaking hand. “Don’t make me make this choice.” Ben groaned, resenting Klaus for using him as a substitute for the parts of his brain he was actively destroying. His brother suddenly stopped his efforts to light the cigarette so he could once again dramatically vomit. Everything he did was goddamn theatrical, even his puking. Ben rolled his eyes sulkily, wishing he could apologise to Vanya.

—

Vanya didn’t even have to look through the peephole to know it was her brother, since she could hear him arguing with no one. She decided to err on the side of caution for once and put the latch on. Vanya felt very guilty to do so, given what it implied - even though she knew how she felt was perfectly rational. Although her brother wasn’t a bad person, he had reprehensible priorities. Diffidently pulling the door ajar, Vanya braced herself for whatever nonsense Klaus was going to blabber. He looked almost as deceased as the ghosts he used to be able to see. Clearly it had been wise to put the latch on. 

Their sister nervously frowned at Klaus’ lousy appearance. Ben wished she didn’t have to keep dealing with his self-inflicted misery. “I have the flu.” Klaus blurted on seeing Vanya’s suspicion, which was impossible for Ben not to snigger at. “Really, Klaus? The flu?” he deadpanned, astonished by his brother’s appalling excuse. It was freaking July. Vanya was fully aware he was a not-remotely-functioning drug addict, there was no point in trying to pass it off as something else. Klaus hissed at Ben with antsy aggravation, which made Vanya flinch slightly.

“Thought I saw a cat...” their brother awkwardly lied in an attempt to look less insane, gesturing vaguely towards Ben. That just made Ben aggrievedly laugh even more. It was always insulting when Klaus would hiss at him, it was such a bizarrely impolite thing to do. Even for someone as strange as Klaus. “Why would you _hiss_ at a cat? That’s the exact opposite of what you should do.” Ben snidely commented. His brother obviously was about to hiss at him again before realising that would make matters worse.

Tentatively, Vanya poked her head through the gap in the door to look where her brother had addressed his hissing. She of course found nothing. Vanya was unaware he hallucinated animals as well as people. At least it wasn’t supposedly Ben this time, that always made her glum. “So, uh, can I, uh...” her brother clumsily spluttered. “I need money, but it’s not for- it’s not... it’s for- it’s... it’s for _rent!_ ” Klaus grinned, clearly impressed by his own atrocious falsehood. Vanya shuffled her weight from foot to foot uncertainly, not wanting to enable her brother. She knew it did him no favors in the long run, and she wasn’t really in a position to be giving cash away.

“I’ll pay you back, I’ll pay you back. I promise. I swear to god. I just _really_ need to pay rent. Please, Vanny.” Klaus begged frantically, putting his hands in a prayer position then hurriedly crossing his arms once he noticed Vanya looking at his visible tremors. She didn’t know why Klaus was bothering to unsuccessfully try and hide he was in withdrawal - he clearly massively underestimated just how utterly submissive Vanya was to her siblings.

Breathing out wearily, Vanya nodded her head despite everything within her wanting to do the opposite. She just couldn’t get herself to say no. Even now they were adults, Vanya still felt lesser than her siblings - like she was somehow indebted to them. Klaus briefly closed his eyes with a sigh of intense relief. When he opened them again, he violently flinched and let out a distressed squeak. Vanya anxiously peeked over her shoulder to where her brother’s gaze was directed - she once again found nothing. She wasn’t sure if her brother was currently able to see ghosts again, or if he was hallucinating this too.

An awful part of her somewhat hoped it was the latter, feeling unsettled by the macabre nature of his power. It would be disconcerting to find she had a haunted apartment. Vanya had kind of forgotten how creeped out she could get from his ability, he’d gone so long without it. Even though she knew his power was at times scary, she still resented Klaus for taking it for granted. Vanya didn’t even have a power to waste to begin with. They were all under the impression that he was rather melodramatic regarding how the ghosts looked anyway, since he had a strong tendency to attention seek.

”Oh, Jesus Christ.” Klaus whimpered, speedily scrunching his eyes up so he didn’t have to look at that goddamn _thing_. Even though Klaus had been able to see dead people since literal birth, they still scared the absolute fucking shit out of him. This was exactly why he needed the drugs, Ben could whine all he liked. His brother insisted there would be better ways to cope, but there weren’t. The ghosts and the memories needed to be drowned out. Klaus needed to stay numb. He shoved his fist to his mouth in an attempt to not puke at the ghastly sight he’d just seen; Klaus didn’t know how he even had anything left in him to bring up, but he definitely felt it rising.

“Is it weird that I kind of recognise her?” Ben droned with dark curiosity. Klaus wincingly opened his eyes, trying to brace himself to see her again. Klaus whimpered once more, disturbed by the grotesque angle of her neck. He definitely did recognise her, though. Klaus quickly stumbled from the doorway so he wouldn’t vomit on his sister’s extremely cute suede shoes.

Feeling very spooked by Klaus’ reaction, Vanya felt his puking was a welcome distraction from the apparent horror behind her. “Is it a ghost?” she whispered, meekly popping her head back through the gap in the door. Her brother nodded tearfully. He glanced over to nothingness, though Vanya assumed it wasn’t another ghost given him not cowering in fear. “I think she was our goddamn _nanny_.” Klaus snivelled, reluctantly standing from where he’d been crouching down. Vanya tightly knitted her brow, wondering why she’d have the ghost of a nanny in her apartment. He must have brought her here without intending to. “Why would she...” she murmured softly, biting her lip with worry. “I don’t know.” Klaus sighed, shoving the heel of his palm into his sweaty forehead. “There were ghost nannies in the academy but I just used to run away.” he flatly chuckled. Vanya wanted to ask why he’d go through the effort of running away when he could’ve just banished them, but she decided now wasn’t the appropriate time to question his logic.

”Can I _please_ have the money, Van.” Klaus dolorously requested with urgency, wanting to get the hell out of here and as soon as humanly possible. He felt on the verge of joining the ghosts in death, he felt so unbearably dope sick. Klaus couldn’t face having any more of them show up. His sister nodded timidly, shuffling back into her apartment with an alarmed expression. She had the luck to not be able to goddamn see it, Klaus bitterly thought.

“ _You’re_ fucking dead.” Klaus hissed at Ben, pissed he had the nerve to look morbidly disgusted by the nanny who was apparently still staring at them. Klaus couldn’t bring himself to look. He could hear her garbled yelling, though it was impossible to make out what she was saying given her blindingly broken neck. There were a handful of those nannies in the academy, Klaus figured they must’ve been Luther’s little accidents. At least they weren’t as gruesome as the ones Ben unintentionally killed. Ben was always the one nagging about him getting clean, how couldn’t he see why that wasn’t a feasible option?

“Why do you think she’s with _Vanya_?” Ben uttered, looking like he couldn’t tear his eyes from the repulsive spirit. Klaus shrugged, barely stopping himself from snapping at Ben. How the hell would he know? Contrary to popular belief, he wasn’t the fucking ghost whisperer. He bit his tongue, not wanting him shouting at what she perceived as nothing to scare Vanya out of paying him.

Sticking her hand out of the door with thirty dollars in it, Vanya tried not to notice the goosebumps she felt rising. Just knowing there was a ghost behind her was unnerving. Why couldn’t Klaus just get rid of her? Had he forgotten how to do it? Vanya supposed he’d been as ordinary as her for a great deal of time now. “Thanks.” Klaus croakily mumbled, shakily shielding his eyes with his other hand as he grabbed the bills. He evidently couldn’t stand to see said nanny. “Sorry.” he pointed down to the vomit covered hallway floor. Vanya forced a smile.

“It’s okay. I’ll just get the superintendent.” she explained softly. Her brother rushed a nod as response and turned on his heel to quickly get away. “What do you mean there’s _two_ now?!” Vanya heard Klaus incredulously remark to nobody as he neared the stairs. Vanya shuddered, deciding to play her violin to take her mind off her apparent haunters. Why her? He must’ve conjured them by mistake, his power being severely out of practice. She swallowed a pill as soon as she closed the door. Klaus always made Vanya need medicating, which was terribly ironic.

**Author's Note:**

> I forgot I wrote this but finding it made me wonder again how Klaus didn’t find out Vanya killed the nannies lmao


End file.
